


Monsters

by TheGreatCatsby



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: FrostIron - Freeform, Halloween story, M/M, Vampire AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-31
Packaged: 2017-12-30 15:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1020399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatCatsby/pseuds/TheGreatCatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony didn't believe in vampires. Then SHIELD agents started turning up dead, their blood completely drained from their bodies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fun contribution to Halloween stories.

“That’s ridiculous,” Tony said the first time someone told him about vampires. It was late at night and he and the Avengers were relaxing with pizza and drinks. 

“I’m serious,” Clint said. “Cross my heart, wooden stakes and everything. Nat says SHIELD’s got several agents on the case-“

“Well, Nat’s not here, is she?” Tony pointed out. Natasha had been sent on a super secret mission somewhere on the opposite side of the world. 

“How do you know they’re vampires, exactly?” Steve asked. 

“I don’t know—it just says that in the reports!” Clint said. “How’s it so hard to believe? We fought a guy who had magic robots last year. Banner-“ he gestured at the scientist, who was nursing a cup of tea, “-can turn into a big green giant with the strength of a thousand men. And you’re questioning vampires?” 

“Point,” said Stark. “But I haven’t seen a vampire yet. Where are they even coming from?” 

Clint shrugged. “Some are guessing aliens from another planet that can convert people to their species. Others are saying it’s the result of a scientific experiment gone wrong with the same results.” 

Tony looked at Thor, sitting with an uneaten slice of pizza, which was rare because Thor ate more than all of them. He was their resident expert on all things strange and magical, considering that certain members of his family had been well-versed in the art of magic. It was still something Tony couldn’t wrap his head around, but Thor had come out of the woodwork as an asset to his team, both with his knowledge of such strange things and his skill in fighting them. 

“Cat got your tongue?” Tony asked him. 

Thor blinked, then stood up. “I apologize. It seems I am tired tonight. I should go to bed.” 

“Of course,” Steve said. They wished Thor goodnight and Thor went off. 

After he left, Tony said, “You don’t think Thor knows something about vampires, do you?” 

“Why would he?” Steve asked. “He’d say. He always talks if he knows about stuff like that.” 

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted. “He’s just weird tonight.”

Clint shrugged. “Aren’t we all.” 

Part of Tony thought Clint was lying, and maybe Thor had known it and was too polite to say that vampires didn’t exist. Clint had probably been trying to scare them with fake tales from the mysterious vaults of SHIELD. He hacked into their database just to be sure, and to his surprise found several files on incidents matching Clint’s descriptions. 

“What do you know,” he muttered, and downloaded the files. Just in case. 

**

“There’s been a string of attacks in which the victims have been found completely drained of blood,” Director Fury told them during a meeting a few days later.

“So what, we find out who’s responsible and send ‘em in?” Tony asked. 

Fury ignored him. “Main problem: the victims have exclusively been SHIELD agents.” 

That put a chill over the room like nothing else. Clint looked particularly worried. 

“Therefore,” Fury continued, “we need to approach this with the utmost caution.” He glared at Stark. “No rock ’n roll.” 

Tony gave Fury a thumbs-up. 

It would be fine. 

Two days later Clint disappeared. 

**

“He has a tracking device,“ Fury’s voice said in his ear. Tony was in his suit, flying out in a general northern direction based on where Clint’s phone had last emitted a signal before it had, apparently, been turned off. The others were following in a quinjet, including Natasha, who had just returned from her mission. 

“Get me the signal,” Tony said. “I’ll be at the site of communication loss in a minute. And I don’t think he’ll be there.” 

A map with a red blinking dot appeared in Tony’s field of vision. Fury’s voice told him, “He’s in the forests upstate. It’s getting dark-“

“I’m in the suit,” Tony reminded him, increasing his speed. “It can handle the dark.” And the bite of a vampire, he hoped. If that was even what they were dealing with. 

“The others are following,” Fury added, “in case you can’t.” The tone of his voice implied that he felt Tony couldn’t. 

It took half an hour to get to Clint’s location, and it was pitch black save for the glow the arc reactor powering Tony’s suit, bathing the immediate area in an eerie washed-out blue. It was nothing like the city—it was dark enough to see the stars in full detail when there weren’t trees blocking the sky from view. 

Tony knew he had lost the element of surprise when he flew in, so he called out, “Clint! It’s Tony!” 

Silence from the trees. 

Tony had a bad feeling about that. 

“Clint!” he called again, just to make sure. 

Nothing. 

Tony sighed and turned on his in-fared vision, kicking himself for not having started with it on in the first place. He didn’t like dark spaces, and it was messing with his head. He took a deep breath and turned in place, searching for heat signatures that weren’t animals. 

On the ground, a few feet away, a shape like a body glowed in the darkness, partially blocked by trees. Tony’s heart leapt—he hoped the heat meant that Clint was still alive and only unconscious, that he hadn’t met the fate of the others. 

He started towards Clint when something wrapped around his chest and pulled him back. 

Tony yelled and struggled against the thing pulling him, but it was strong. He tried to light the repulsers in his gloves and shoot, but the thing managed to twist his arms away from it, and Tony ended up blasting the ground. 

“Shit,” he hissed, and now he couldn’t move at all, now his chest felt like it was being crushed-

“You have made a terrible mistake,” a smooth, accented voice purred in his ear. 

Tony had time to think, “That is oddly pleasant,” before he was jerked back with a horrid screeching noise. And then, with stomach-dropping clarity, he realized that the screeching noise was his armor being ripped off his body, and no sooner had he realized it than he felt cold air on his shoulder. 

He twisted, and because the creature had loosened its grip to rip Tony’s armor off, he managed to get away. He whipped around, aimed his repulsers, and saw a flash of white before something slammed into him and he hit the ground. 

The thing was a man, extremely pale with long dark hair, sharp cheekbones, and light eyes. He had pinned Tony to the ground with a strength that he should not have possessed. His teeth were bared in a snarl—

And his teeth. There were two where the upper canines should have been that were elongated and sharp, and Tony understood—this was not a human. 

Still, if Tony could distract him long enough for the team to arrive— “What happened to Barton?” 

The man lunged forward and Tony managed to keep him at bay, just barely. He was inches from Tony’s neck when he suddenly glanced down at the only source of light in the forest—the arc reactor. He placed a thin, long-fingered hand over the circle of light, and Tony saw his eyes widen. 

“Oh,” he breathed. “You are exquisite.” 

Tony raised his eyebrows. “I’ve been called worse,” he muttered. “Who are you?” 

“This is power,” the man continued, completely ignoring him. “Such power, and you yield it—“

The sound of jet engines made the man jerk his gaze skyward. Tony smirked. The man looked back at him, licked his lips, and tried to pull away, but Tony grabbed him by the shirt (dark as his hair) and held fast. 

“What did you do to Clint?” he demanded. 

The man grinned, wild and dangerous. “I gave him a gift,” he said, and he pulled away, vanishing into the night. 

Tony struggled to sit up. Lights from the quinjet illuminated the scene and Tony scrambled to his feet and stumbled to where Clint lay, on his back, pale and unconscious. 

Tony shined a light on him. Clint was still breathing, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths. His expression looked troubled. Tony made to pick him up, bring him to the quinjet, when he paused. 

There were two round, dark red puncture marks in Clint’s neck.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could have sworn one line said "for the lulz" and I spent ten minutes laughing over it. But I've pulled myself together so here's a chapter. Last one should be up on Halloween.

“He’s going to turn,” Natasha said. They were huddled outside of what should have been a hospital room but was actually a reinforced cell. Doctors wearing special gear were inside tending to Clint, trying to prevent the change from happening. Clint was restless, still unconscious from blood loss but plagued by something that looked painful to experience. 

“I got footage of him,” Tony said. “I recorded him. He can’t-“

“You can’t record a vampire,” Bruce pointed out, “according to the stories.” 

Tony swore. “I know what he looks like, at least.” 

“There’s no cure,” Natasha said, still looking at the entrance to Clint’s cell. “This is a message. He drank the others dry but turned Clint? Why?” She gave Tony a sharp look. “What did he say to you?” 

“Not much,” Tony said. “He attacked and then got distracted by my arc reactor. Said it was powerful.” 

“How would he know that?” Steve asked. “By all appearances it’s just a light.” 

“Just a light,” Tony repeated. 

“He has a point,” Natasha said. “Looking at it, aside from the strange placement, it looks like a light. You said it distracted him. So how did he know it was powerful?” 

Tony shrugged. He turned to Thor, who had also been standing there, silently watching the door. “Anything?” 

“What was his name?” Thor asked after a moment. 

“He didn’t say.” 

“Did he say anything else?” Natasha asked. 

He’d called Tony—or the arc reactor, it was hard to tell—exquisite, but they didn’t need to know that. Tony shook his head. 

“What did he look like?” Natasha asked. 

Tony described the man’s features as best he could, the pale skin, sharp cheekbones, dark hair, and bright, blue-green eyes, ending with, “Basically he looked like what you’d think a vampire would look like.” But Thor paled and looked so disturbed that Tony had to ask, “What?” 

“I have a suspicion,” he said. 

“Do tell.” 

Thor closed his eyes. “You described someone very similar to my brother.” 

“What?” Steve asked, followed by Bruce saying, “You never told us you had a brother.”

“We have fallen apart,” Thor told them. “He learned he was adopted, that our father had lied to him. I fear it pained him and he turned that pain into anger, and made certain poor decisions. His name is Loki.” 

“He was a vampire?” Natasha asked. 

Thor shook his head. “He was a sorcerer. Father hated magic, and he thought he could bring Loki up without it, but Mother saw Loki’s talents and allowed them to flourish in secret.”

“He hates magic?” Tony said. “But you told us your family knew magic-“

“I said certain members did,” Thor reminded him. “Loki was one and my mother, to a certain extent, another because she helped him learn. Magic was considered dangerous by many where I come from. The art of monsters.” 

“Well, shit,” Tony said. “What makes you so sure this vampire is him? I mean, plenty of people can look like that, I’m sure. Some people have dopplegangers-“

“Loki was attacked,” Thor said, “some months ago. He had not been living safely. I was not home, but mother was, and she insisted on helping him. He seemed to be suffering, but he did not accept her help. He told her he had become a monster and he ran. As I said, this is only a suspicion.” He turned to Natasha. “If it is him, please do not kill him. I would reason with him first-“

“He’s killed people,” Natasha said. “We’ll do what’s best for the safety of everyone. I can’t promise you anything.” 

Tony knew SHIELD would be hard on Loki, if it was him, or whoever this person ended up being if it was not. But Thor’s account also gave him a sense of unease—if it was Loki, then for all that he was terrorizing SHIELD, he wasn’t the only vampire out there. There were more, they were violent, and no one knew where they had come from. And they had turned Loki, or whoever this was, instead of killing him. 

**

SHIELD put a notice out to its agents with the vampire’s description and the warning that he could tear through metal and was possibly capable of magic, a vague thing that Thor had once said was using your own energy to manipulate the universe. This meant nothing to any of them. 

Progress came in the form of an undercover agent witnessing one such man prowling the waterline of the Bronx and the Avengers were called in. 

Tony arrived with the others, suited up but not going in guns blazing. They took a car and received updates from the field agent, who had been tailing the man for some time. It seemed that their target would stay in one place, walk for a bit, then pause again before continuing his walk. 

They split up to create a perimeter. Thor wanted to go in hard but he ended up with Bruce approaching from the side. Tony was alone—Steve and Natasha went for the rear, so Tony took the other side. 

He saw their target at the same time as Natasha and Steve did. He was wearing a suit, of all things, and leaning against a building, eyes closed. Not sleeping, he wasn’t relaxed enough for that, but waiting. 

Natasha moved first, quiet, gun out, and she almost didn’t get noticed. Then the man pushed away from the wall, opened his eyes, saw her, and smirked. 

And then he ran. 

He ran in Tony’s direction, so Tony ran straight at him in the hopes that he would run back towards Steve and Natasha and they could catch him in the middle. Instead, the man spun and sprinted down an alleyway (that Tony kicked himself for not having considered) and yanked open a door leading into one of the buildings. Tony went after him and immediately cursed himself upon going through the door. 

Inside, it was completely dark. 

Of course. 

“Hey!” Tony called out, moving slowly forward, palms up so that he could see a little ways in front of him and shoot if need be. He turned on his in-fared vision, but it occurred to him that if vampires couldn’t be recorded on camera, they might not show up on some devices either. “We know you’re in here. We have the place surrounded.” Not necessarily true, he had no idea how many exits there were or if Bruce and Thor had gotten word about what had happened, but still. 

He heard someone behind him, turned, and saw the silhouette of Natasha at the door. He turned again and cursed his suit for not allowing him a larger range of light. 

“Hello,” a voice murmured in his ear. 

Tony spun and shot—and missed, because he couldn’t see. He swore and heard Natasha shout, and underneath it all, laughter. 

“We’ve got the place surrounded,” Tony repeated. “And we know your name.” It was a guess but, “Loki, right?” 

“Clever,” the same voice said, again behind Tony, who turned and could see nothing. “You are correct. But your knowledge won’t save you. A name is but a word.” 

Tony tried to find out where the voice was coming from, but it could have been coming from anywhere. The darkness pressed in. He asked, “What do you want?” 

A strong hand gripped his arm and forced him around, and he was face-to-face with Loki, who was illuminated by the arc reactor. Loki was looking at it, and he tapped it with his other hand and murmured, “This.” He placed his hand over the light, attempting to grasp at the edges of the reactor, to pull—

Two shots rang out and Loki jerked forward and gasped, hand still splayed over Tony’s chest. Tony stepped back, away, suppressing the urge to put his own hand over the reactor, the thing that Loki had just wanted to take out of his chest-

Loki pitched forward and Tony, startled, caught him on reflex. He couldn’t tell if there was blood—did vampires bleed? Only that Loki was gasping, shuddering. 

“Stark!” he heard Natasha yell. “Bring him over.” Tony complied, dragging Loki towards the door. Once they reached the threshold, Tony could see that Loki had a chest wound and that it was bleeding, staining his white shirt red, although there was less blood than Tony would normally associate with such a wound. He also noticed that Loki had passed out. 

Natasha cuffed Loki’s hands and led Tony to a waiting car, where once in side, with Loki laid across the back seat, Tony asked, “How did you see him?” 

“I saw the arc reactor light go out,” Natasha said. 

“He had his hand over it,” Tony told her. “He was trying to pull it out.” 

Natasha grimaced. “The bullets are poison,” she told him after a moment. “Not deadly, but enough to bring someone like Thor down. The others will meet us at the base.” 

Tony glanced at Loki, who was shuddering even in his unconscious state. “Fuck,” he said. “He’s Thor’s brother. Wait—did you say poison?” 

Natasha nodded. “We take precautions. He’s bleeding a bit, which is strange, but the wound looks like it’s healing.” Tony looked, and sure enough, beneath the damaged fabric the hole in Loki’s skin was smaller. “We won’t know about the poison until we test him.” 

“So vampires bleed?” Tony asked. “Is that a thing now?” 

“Clint still has blood,” Natasha said. “I thought, maybe, it was because he wasn’t finished transforming.” She frowned. “But maybe it’s just because he’s not really dead.” 

“That suggests it’s reversible,” Tony said. “But, are there dead ones? Vampires?” 

“I don’t know,” Natasha said. “The SHIELD agents who were attacked were dead—nothing strange has happened with them. Maybe—“

“Maybe we’re in over our heads,” Tony muttered. Natasha turned away. 

They weren’t prepared for this. 

**

SHIELD shut Loki away in a cell similar to Clint’s, except the front wall was made of a strong glass-like material for observation purposes. The scientists took advantage of his unconsciousness to examine him, take blood, measure his heart-rate, get DNA samples and figure out how much drugs were needed to keep him subdued and stop him from using magic. 

Anyone not involved in this process wouldn’t be allowed to see him until the next day. 

Natasha went to check on Clint’s status while Tony and Thor stayed in the cafeteria and Bruce and Steve headed back to Stark Tower. Thor looked distraught and didn’t eat the tray of (admittedly unappetizing) food in front of him. “It’s him,” he said. “I have not seen him in so long, and I feared the worst. I am so happy he is alive, but—“

“He’s killing people and fucking up other peoples’ lives,” Tony supplied. “Puts a damper on any family reunion.” 

Thor sighed. 

“So,” Tony plowed on, “let’s talk about this vampire thing. What do you know?” 

“Nothing much,” Thor said. “There were stories, but mostly childhood tales of cursed beings who thrived off the blood of the living.” 

“Cursed?” Tony repeated. “Like, literally or metaphorically.” 

Thor frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Like, does it have anything to do with magic? Because there are magic curses, right? What if it’s an actual curse?” 

“If it is magic,” Thor said, “it is powerful, and would need an even more powerful force to break the curse. If it were so simple, Loki would have cured himself long ago.” 

“So maybe he needs something,” Tony suggested. 

“Perhaps he enjoys it,” Thor said with a grimace. “Perhaps it is his version of revenge.” 

“I mean, it does make it easier to hurt people,” Tony said, “being a blood-sucking demon and all. But I wouldn’t want to become a whole new creature after a lifetime of being something else.”

Thor nodded, but he looked distracted. They could speculate all they wanted, but only Loki had the answers. There was nothing left for them but to wait. 

**

The next morning, Thor and Tony were in front of Loki’s glass cell at Fury’s request. Loki was facing them, sitting in a chair placed in front of the glass. He looked exhausted, and light tremors still ran through his body, and he seemed to be having trouble focusing on any one person or place. 

Thor spoke first. “Brother, I have missed you.” 

Loki’s eyes slid to Thor and away again. “I am not your brother,” he said, sounding as if he had said this many times before. 

Thor looked wounded. “I do not care where you were born, or to whom. We grew up together, and you will always be-“

“I am a monster,” Loki interrupted. “And-hah-I am a monster that looks like you. A monster with your flesh, the flesh of the perfect Thor Odinson. Imagine that.” He bared his teeth, sharp and overlong and unnatural. 

“This is not you,” Thor insisted. “Why are you doing this?” 

“For the lies,” Loki hissed, leaning forward, now making a visible effort to focus his attention on Thor. “I will harm those close to you, make them monsters. Will you still love them? I wonder.” 

“This is not their battle,” Thor said. “Loki, fight me if you must but do not involve them.” 

“How noble,” Loki said, “but I think not.” 

“Loki-“

“You lied!” Loki cried. “All of you treated me as lesser. Don’t tell me you did not think less of me because of my magic. You pretended to accept me, but you treated all other sorcerers with ire. You would have rid the world of them if you could, get rid of their dangerous magics. But I will do you better-“

“I am sorry,” Thor said. “I would not! I am not Odin.” 

“That does not erase years of pushing me aside for those you thought better,” Loki snapped, “for ridiculing my magic, shaming me for it, for who I was. I was never good enough, never your equal.”

“No,” Thor said. “Loki-“

“And now you will know how it feels. How will you treat your friends if they are monsters?” Loki continued. “I will take all that you hold dear and make it into all that you despise.” 

“Listen,” Thor tried. 

“Leave,” Loki interrupted. 

“Loki—“

“Leave!” Loki screamed. 

“This is going nowhere,” Fury said. “It’s time to go.” 

Thor stepped back, as did Tony, and hesitantly followed Fury into the corridor. 

“You don’t talk to him again until we have what we need,” Fury told Thor. Thor made to protest but Fury held up a hand. “Lives are at risk here, and that takes precedence over your family issues.” 

Thor clenched his jaw and walked away. Tony turned to Fury. “I think I can get him to cooperate.” 

Fury sighed. “Tomorrow,” he said. “One chance. Don’t waste my time.” 

Tony nodded. He wasn’t ready, he never would be. But he had a shiny thing in his chest that might make Loki talk, and hopefully that was enough.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things:  
> -It's Halloween, so I'm ending this on a creepy note.   
> -The end is open to your interpretation, but I didn't intend for there to be a death in the end. Hence the lack of warning for it.   
> -Enjoy!

Tony entered the cell room the next day with no interrogation experience and a whole lot riding on his success. 

And one of the foremost thoughts in his head was how Loki had used the word exquisite to describe some part of him. Even if it was only the arc reactor. The arc reactor was his, and he could consider compliments to the reactor compliments to himself if he wanted to. 

Loki, for his part, did not look any better than he had the day before, certainly not like someone in the mood to use words like “exquisite” to describe something. He looked a bit like death, which was fitting because, well, vampire. 

As Tony settled in front of the glass, dressed in a t-shirt that allowed the light of the reactor to shine through, Loki gave him a cool look. Tony smiled back and then tapped his arc reactor. 

“It lies over your heart,” Loki observed with a tinge of surprise. “Why would you need such a powerful device attached to your body?”

“Had an accident. Keeps shrapnel from reaching my heart and killing me,” Tony said. “It’s a long story. What d’you need to be a vampire for?” 

“I was cursed.” 

“Cursed, yeah. So you decided to kill people and pass it on?” 

“Rage is a powerful motivator,” Loki said. “I am dangerous.” 

“Is it really magic?” Tony asked. 

“Ancient,” Loki murmured, “and beautiful. I would kill to have the power to create such a curse.” 

“Okay,” Tony said. “But if it’s magic it can be counteracted.” 

“Oh yes,” Loki said, “if you manage to survive the initial casting. Many end up dead, and others less alive than I am, lost completely to the curse. Not every bite,” he added, “is a casting.” 

“So you chose to curse Clint instead of kill him,” Tony concluded. “Why?” 

“Thor’s friend, alive but a monster,” Loki said. “I could not refuse.” 

“And the rest of us?” 

Loki grinned, showing his teeth. 

“You,” said Tony, “don’t have the power to break the curse.” 

“And if I don’t want to?” Loki asked. “Drinking the blood of my enemies is rather poetic. And if I need to be a monster, why can’t I be one of my own choosing?” 

“But you didn’t choose,” Tony pointed out. “You were attacked. You don’t have the power, that’s what’s stopping you. So instead you take it out on the rest of us and say it’s in the name of a family feud.” 

“It is,” Loki said. “Your mouth will get you in trouble.” 

“It always does,” Tony said. 

Loki growled. “I will end you.” 

Tony grinned. “Try.” 

“I will suck you dry,” Loki hissed, “until you are nothing more than a husk.” 

Tony’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really?” 

It took Loki a moment, in his anger, to process why Tony seemed on the verge of laughter. “You know what I mean.” 

“Do I ever,” Tony drawled. “Is that how you lure your victims in? Because I gotta say, it’s kind of hot.” 

Loki glared at him. 

“The point is,” Tony continued before Loki could gut him with his eyes, “your issues? Don’t take them out on the rest of us. Now, I’m willing to negotiate, but you have to give me something to work with.” 

Loki folded his arms over his chest. “What do you want?” 

“Why are you so fascinated with this?” Tony tapped his chest. “Is it because of your magic?” 

“Yes,” Loki said. “I could use that power.” 

“For what?” 

“To augment my own,” Loki said. Then he added, grudgingly, “Break the curse.” 

“So you need it.” Tony wanted to shout with joy. They had gotten somewhere. “So let’s say I let you tap into this and use it to break the curse—without, mind you, killing me in the process. What do I get in return?” 

“I stop bleeding your agents dry,” Loki said, “your friends. Stop cursing them.” 

“Not good enough,” Tony said. “You still have a vendetta against Thor and you would still have magic—taking away the curse won’t stop you from being able to hurt us.” 

“Then what is there to negotiate?” Loki asked. 

“Well, for starters, you have more to lose than me,” Tony said, and at Loki’s “really?” expression he added, “If you don’t break the curse you’ll stay here, and SHIELD will experiment on you, and they won’t let you go. It won’t be pleasant, mind you, since you’ve killed their agents. They’re pretty pissed.” He took a deep breath. “Alternatively, I can let you free, let you tap into the reactor. But, you have to cure Clint along with yourself. Without killing me. That’s the deal.” 

“You will let me free if I cure Barton and don’t kill you,” Loki repeated. “That is your offer?” 

“Yeah,” Tony said. He shifted on his feet but held Loki’s gaze. 

“You would not ask me to promise not to harm your friends or those who Thor holds dear?” 

“I don’t think you’d keep your word,” Tony said. 

Loki, rather than being insulted, smirked. “Smart man.” 

“So?” 

“I accept.” 

“Great.” Tony’s heart started beating faster as he walked over to the control panel for the cell and began typing in the code that he knew would unlock the prison. The glass hissed as it slid aside just enough to allow an opening. Tony turned as Loki walked out of his prison. 

“Okay,” Tony said, “I’m guessing you know how this works because I have no clue.” 

Loki moved towards him like a cat stalking prey. It made Tony feel uncomfortable, a little scared, but he told himself that they had a deal. 

Loki placed his hand on the arc reactor and grinned. Tony suppressed a shiver. Then, suddenly, Loki lashed out, grabbing Tony and pulling him into a binding grip. Tony tried to yell but Loki’s other hand covered his mouth. 

“You cannot bind me to anything,” Loki hissed. “I do as I wish.” 

All Tony could manage was a choking sound. The shock must have shown in his eyes because Loki’s gaze softened. 

“Fool,” he murmured, and pressed a kiss to Tony’s neck with cool lips. It was gentle, almost lovely, and Tony could almost feel comforted by such a thing. 

The kiss turned into something painful, then, as Tony felt the sharp stab of teeth breaking the skin of his neck, of warm blood flowing faster. Now Loki was sucking on the wound and he felt light-headed. 

And then he didn’t feel anything at all.


End file.
